1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an adjustable baby bottle holder and more particularly pertains to supporting a baby bottle in any of a variety of orientations to allow a child to easily feed himself or herself
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of holders for baby bottles and other objects of known designs and configurations is known in the prior art. More specifically, holders for baby bottles and other objects of known designs and configurations heretofore devised and utilized for the purpose of conveniencing children and child care providers by known methods and apparatuses are known to consist basically of familiar, expected, and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which has been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,826,810 to Morishita discloses a nursing bottle holder. U.S. Pat. No. 1,863,163 to S. Malti et al discloses a bottle support. U.S. Pat. No. 2,362,020 to L. Morrow discloses a nursing bottle holder. U.S. Pat. No. 2,514,134 to R. L. Mann discloses a support to hold infant's milK bottles. U.S. Pat. No. 2,628,802 to A. O. Wahlberg discloses a holder for nursing bottles. U.S. Pat. No. 3,298,649 to M. R. Paglee discloses a nursing bottle holder. U.S. Pat. No. 4,121,797 to MacNeil discloses a children's bottle and toy holder. U.S. Pat. No. 4,315,654 to Crook discloses a baby bottle feeder. U.S. Pat. No. 4,951,997 to Kenney discloses an infant feeding chair. U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,811 to Millis et al discloses an attachable baby bottle holder with an attaching mechanism. Lastly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,613,657 to Olaiz discloses a baby bottle keeper.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not describe a baby bottle holding system that allows supporting a baby bottle in any of a variety of orientations to allow a child to feed himself or herself, easily, conveniently, sanitarily and safely.
More specifically, small children today are spending increased amounts of time strapped in commercially available infant carriers. Such carriers with a child may be positioned on a table or counter, may be separably supported onto a base for retention on a vehicle seat, may be carrier by a child care provider or the like. While the child is in its carrier, it is very common for the child to be drinking from a baby bottle. When the child is too young, with underdeveloped motor skills, or an insufficient attention span, there is a need for the child care provider to hold the bottle during feeding or to periodically position the baby bottle adjacent to the baby's mouth after spitting it out in an effort to allow self feeding. Some assistance may be provided by a pillow functioning as a support when the hands of the child are of limited benefit as a bottle holder. No existing method or apparatus is known for the convenient deployment for a child in an infant carrier to assist in feeding. No existing method or apparatus, such as a pillow prop, or the like, easily retains the baby bottle in position for feeding the child regardless of the child's attention span or motor skills. No existing method or apparatus promotes sanitation of the baby bottle nipple by precluding it from dropping onto a floor or like surface which might soil the nipple with attendant problems to the child and care provider. No existing method or apparatus allows the child or care provider to maintain attention to an alternate task, such as safely driving a car, without periodic retrieval of a baby bottle dropped by a feeding child.
In this respect, the baby bottle holding system according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of supporting a baby bottle from an infant carrier handle in any of a variety of orientations to allow a child to easily feed himself or herself with significant benefits to the child and child care provider.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for a new and improved baby bottle holding system which can be used for supporting a baby bottle from above and in any of a variety of orientations to allow a child of a wide variety of sizes to easily feed himself or herself with minimum assistance from a child care provider. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.